Hedwig Pöllöläinen
grrlscientist
Posts by this author
June 8, 2006
My favorite blog carnivals were published on the same day (well, more or less) for the first time ever!
The Tangled Bank, issue 54, is now available. There are lots of contributions for you to read, including three from me!
I and the Bird, 25th edition, has been published by Rob's Idaho Perspective…
June 7, 2006
In April 2006, to celebrate naturalist Sir David Attenborough's 80th birthday, the public were asked to vote on their favorite of his television moments. This clip of the superb lyrebird, Menura novaehollandiae, from his ten-part series, The Life of Birds, was voted number one.
(video below the…
June 6, 2006
Although these fish look similar and have the same genetic makeup, they
produce very different electrical signals (right) and will only mate with fish that produce
the same signals. Cornell researchers believe that these different electrical signals are the
fishes' first step in diverging into…
June 6, 2006
The Mothership asks;
Question: Do you think there is a brain drain going on (i.e.; foreign scientists not coming to work and study in the U.S. like they used to, because of new immigration rules and the general unpopularity of the U.S.) If so, what are its implications? Is there anything we can do…
June 6, 2006
ApatheticAgnostic
So .. are you still here? Well, so am I, dammit. I guess none of us were good enough to be sucked up into god's mouth like an overcooked spaghetti noodle during this so-called "Rapture".
Since I had already been enduring some rather serious tribulations of my own for the past…
June 5, 2006
666? The Mark of the Beast? The End Times? Or is 666 the emergency number for the local fire department?
My neighborhood is going crazy tonight, setting off a gazillion firecrackers -- they're burning up more firecrackers than they do even on Independence Day or New Year's Eve, in fact.…
June 5, 2006
A new blog carnival is available for your reading pleasure -- the first one of the week! This one, the Literature Carnival, is relatively new to me but it is already in its 13th edition. It includes a collection of links to essays about reading, writing, and the world of literature that you might…
June 5, 2006
Female thorn bug or thorn treehopper, Umbonia crassicornis (Insecta: Hemiptera: Membracidae).
Have you ever seen an insect evolved to look like a thorn? This not-quite-sharp photo is one I took during the 2004 NABA biennial meeting in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
Image (resized): by…
June 5, 2006
Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis.Image: Bob Miller/Southwest Birders.
People Hurting Birds
Scottish scientists say global warming's first major British wildlife victim is the ring ouzel, Turdus torquatus (pictured) -- a close relative of the blackbird, Turdus merula. Researchers from the…
June 4, 2006
Gastonia burgei,
an "armored tank" dinosaur, so named in 1995 for Don Burge, the founding director of the
CEU Prehistoric Museum, and for amateur rock hound, Robert Gaston, who co-discovered
the species. This species appears to be a close relative to the newly discovered dinosaur
featured in this…
June 3, 2006
It's true that I've recently been feeling somewhat depressed about my future (well, honestly, in my place, what sane, rational person wouldn't feel bad?). Inspired by that education (unemployment) cartoon I just posted, a reader, named "Concerned Muggle", wrote one of the funniest, most…
June 3, 2006
I know this sounds somewhat unbelievable, but there are some people out there who have taught their horses to play soccer. The game is somewhat unconventional (the ball is a little bit bigger than your typical soccer ball, for example), but it appears that the horses enjoy it. The linked website…
June 2, 2006
Are you an amateur satirical cartoonist? Are you seeking greater exposure for your editorial cartoons about science and scientific integrity? Never fear, there now is a new contest especially for you.
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today announced that they are teaming up with leading…
June 2, 2006
The NYTimes has an interesting article by Charles Morris about the parallels between (and the likely underpinnings of) the current state of American consumer confidence and consumer confidence experienced in this country in the late 1870s. Morris observes of the 1870s (and today);
Employment…
June 1, 2006
Several times in the past, I've linked to Kim Bostwick's research with South American manakins from Birds in the News, but now there is a streaming slow-motion video of her moonwalking manakins (click for alternate video source), complete with music. At certain times of the day, there is high…
June 1, 2006
Do you remember the amusing anecdote, "Everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it!" Well, one could also say something similar about helping birds that are in trouble. Until now, that is. While the rest of us were talking, Laura Erickson went to work researching and writing…
May 31, 2006
Lack of sleep can affect your reaction times. This is a cute online game that tests how alert you are and also reveals the impact of a cup of tea or coffee on your performance. What was your reaction time? Did it improve after a cup of coffee or tea?
I have not tried this after a cup of coffee or…
May 31, 2006
I am sorry for my relative silence, but I have been experiencing several troubles recently. First, and worst, a stranger on the sidewalk bumped into me and knocked my laptop out of my hands such that it fell to the pavement, where it dented one corner and compromised the structural integrity of the…
May 30, 2006
This is an interesting story from my favorite part of the world: why did this lake at the top of a once-dormant volcano suddenly turn red? Is this the result of a chemical reaction? (That's my guess).
Volcanologists were puzzled today about why a lake atop a rumbling volcano on the South Pacific…
May 30, 2006
The Institute for Bird Populations announced that its journal, Bird Populations, will become entirely electronic beginning with its upcoming issue.
First published in 1993, Bird Populations fills a major gap in the scientific literature because no other technical publication is dedicated to the…
May 30, 2006
Black-throated green warbler, Dendroica virens.
Image appears here with the kind permission of the photographer, Pamela Wells.
Click image for larger view in its own window.
Birds in Science
Wendy Reed and her research team's study found that male dark-eyed juncos, Junco hyemalis, with extra…
May 29, 2006
I have been working on Birds in the News for several hours already on this humid day, so I thought I was the only one writing a blog entry today. I was wrong. The Big Apple Blog Festival, issue 33, is now available for your reading pleasure. As the name suggests, this carnival is all about NYC,…
May 29, 2006
The mothership recently began asking us a question each week and then linking to our answers each Wednesday in a blog carnival-like format from the staff blog, Stochastic. (more about the rules here). This week's question is;
Since they're funded by taxpayer dollars (through the NIH, NSF, and so on…
May 29, 2006
Birds in the News has been postponed until tomorrow, when it will appear at the usual time.
May 28, 2006
Thanks to my blog sibling, Orac, I now know how I will die;
What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?
You will be sucked dry by a leech. I'd stay away from swimming holes, and stick to good old cement. Even if it does hurt like hell when your toe scrapes the bottom.Take this quiz!…
May 28, 2006
Manhattan Sunset, 2001.
Click here for larger image in its own window.
Image: Neil deGrasse Tyson/AMNH.
Tonight at 820pm EST, Manhattan will be flooded with sunlight because the sun will set precisely on the centerline of every street.
The skyscrapers that line Manhattan streets usually hide…
May 28, 2006
Yes, I laughed because I am starring in this same movie right now, although I have enacted a few minor costume alterations, of course. (Be sure to watch the people's reactions to the star of this film, keeping in mind that all these people appear to be in Hollywood, where weird sights can be…
May 27, 2006
This is an online personality test, based on your drawing of a pig. I wanted to save my picture of a pig to share with you because I thought it was rather nice, especially considering that it was drawn online and freehand. Unfortunately, this site does not keep your picture available for very long…
May 27, 2006
The "Phylogeny" of Scientific Life.
Image: created by Websites as Graphics.
KEY: What do these colored dots mean?blue: for links (the A tag)red: for tables (TABLE, TR and TD tags)green: for the DIV tagviolet: for images (the IMG tag)yellow: for forms (FORM, INPUT, TEXTAREA, SELECT and OPTION…